Weekly Movie Recommendations

This week on The Movie Gourmet – it’s time to reset after the Oscars. I’m finishing up my Cinequest coverage; the festival starts on Tuesday, and I’ll be rolling out my fest preview and individual reviews, starting Sunday.

There’s no more excuse for missing big 2024 movies, including the big Oscar winner, Anora. They’re all available to watch at home for under $6, except for The Brutalist ($20) and A Complete Unknown ($25), which are now streaming but pricey. I haven’t yet seen Nickel Boys, Sing Sing and Flow, but they’re also available on inexpensive VOD.

Alternatively, you could honor Gene Hackman by watching The Conversation (Criterion, Paramount, Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango). It’s right up there with The French Connection as Hackman’s best performance and his best movie.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Brutalist: buffeted by fate, can his soul survive? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango..
• Hard Truths: trapped inside her own rage. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango..
• The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius): rise, fall and legacy of a groundbreaking prodigy. Hulu.
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.

ON TV

Don’t miss Turner Classic Movies March 11 airing of Seven Chances. I thought that I knew the work of Buster Keaton, but somehow I had never seen Seven Chances until a few years ago.  It features a phenomenal, 26-minute chase scene that rates with the very best in cinema history – What’s Up Doc?, The French Connection, Bullitt!, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Keaton’s own The General.

Keaton’s character publishes a public offer of marriage and gets way more takers than he can handle. There’s a very funny scene where he sits in a church to reflect on his situation and woman after woman seats herself next to and around him; he is oblivious to the fact that each of them is there to marry HIM.  The church fills up with prospective wives, and, 30 minutes into the movie, he flees, with a horde of veiled would-be brides in pursuit. The chase is on.

Keaton is off and running and running and running, in a ridiculously long sprint though the city’s downtown and rail yards and into the hills.  Amazingly, he did all of his own stunts, including leaping over an abyss and being swung around by a railroad crane.  His race with a cascade of falling boulders is pure genius.  You keep asking yourself, “How did they perform that stunt with 1925 technology?”

Keaton understood the comedic power of excess, and the sheer magnitude of the frustrated brides is hilarious   I think I can see the inspiration for the hundreds of crashing cars at the end of The Blues Brothers.

When he made Seven Chances in 1925, Keaton was only 30 years old and had just directed his first feature two years before.  He had just made the classics Sherlock, Jr. and The Navigator in 1924.  He was about to make his masterpiece The General in 1926 and Steamboat Bill, Jr. in 1928.  Talking pictures changed the industry in 1929, and Keaton signed a disastrous contract with MGM in 1930.  Keaton was to direct only three more features in his career (all unaccredited).  MGM took away his artistic freedom, and no studio kingpin knew what to do with him in the talking era.  Keaton took to drink and went dark for decades.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) plus my First Look at Cinequest.

I’ve finished my coverage of the Slamdance Film Festival, which continues on-line. Through March 7, you can watch Slamdance films at home on the Slamdance Channel: Here’s my wrap-up coverage of Slamdance:

• SLAMDANCE films go live today on Slamdance Channel
• BANR: weaving together the lucid and the confused
• CORONER TO THE STARS: too transparent?
• FOUL EVIL DEEDS: from not so bad to worse
• MEMORIES OF LOVE RETURNED: moments preserved
• PORTAL TO HELL: Faust at the laundromat
• STOLEN KINGDOM: true crime with nerds
• TWIN FENCES: where is she going? Aaaaah.
• UNIVERSE25: thoughtful, ever-surprising and mysterious

REMEMBRANCE

Gene Hackman was one of the greatest screen actors of all time, justifiably best known for his searingly original Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. When we examine Hackman’s body of work, it’s striking that he delivered indelible performances in multiple movies in each of four decades: the 1960s (Bonnie and Clyde, The Gypsy Moths, Downhill Racer), the 1970s (The Conversation, Night Moves, Young Frankenstein), the 1980s (Hoosiers, Mississippi Burning, BAT*21, The Package) and the 1990s (Unforgiven, Get Shorty). Who else has accomplished that – Jimmy Stewart and very few others? My favorite Gene Hackman performance bar none – will always be as the dogged, and then obsessive, Harry Caul in The Conversation.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Brutalist: buffeted by fate, can his soul survive? In theaters.
• Hard Truths: trapped inside her own rage. In theaters.
• The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius): rise, fall and legacy of a groundbreaking prodigy. Hulu.
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
• Oh, Canada: deathbed confession and so what? In theaters.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• The Substance: the thinking woman’s Faust, if you can take the body horror. MUBI (free), Amazon, AppleTV.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

On March 2, Turner Classic Movies is airing the timeless and fantastic comedy, My Man Godfrey (1936). An assembly of eccentric, oblivious, venal and utterly spoiled characters make up a rich Park Avenue family and their hangers-on during the Depression. The kooky daughter (Carole Lombard) brings home a homeless guy (William Powell) to serve as their butler. The contrast between the dignified butler and his wacky employers results in a brilliant screwball comedy that masks searing social criticism that is still sharply relevant today. The wonderful character actor Eugene Pallette (who looked and sounded like a bullfrog in a tuxedo) plays the family’s patriarch, and he’s keenly aware that his wife and kids are completely nuts.

I feel strongly about this 89-year-old movie, which I first saw when it was only 36-years-old. We talk about screwball comedy, but this is the gold standard. And we need to remember the comic genius of Carole Lombard, who died supporting the war against fascism when she was only 33.

This week, on The Movie Gourmet – I’ve been deep into Slamdance, including Discovering new filmmakers at SLAMDANCE. More Slamdance coverage is coming on Monday, when I start rolling out full reviews of individual films and highlighting the ones available to stream at home on the Slamdance Channel.

I finally got around to watching one of this year’s nominees for the Best Picture Oscar, Wicked. I had put this off because I’m not a fan of musicals, and, sure as shootin’, The Wife had to keep prodding me awake. I do always enjoy and admire Cynthia Erivo, and she’s excellent in Wicked. What surprised me was how brilliant Ariana Grande’s performance was, not just in singing and dancing, but in demonstrating absolutely perfect comic timing. Because I live under a pop culture rock, I wasn’t familiar with Grande, who I have since come to appreciate as a smart and hilarious mimic. Anyway, I don’t generally enjoy musicals, and that’s still true, no matter how good the stars are. (And Emilia Perez isn’t on my top ten list, either.)

Note: I have finalized my list of Best Movies of 2024.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. In theaters.
• The Brutalist: buffeted by fate, can his soul survive? In theaters.
• Hard Truths: trapped inside her own rage. In theaters.
• The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. In theaters.
• All We Imagine as Light: three women and a society that’s not on their side In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
• Oh, Canada: deathbed confession and so what? In theaters.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

On February 24, Turner Classic Movies airs one of the greatest political movies of all time – The Times of Harvey Milk, the documentary Oscar winner from 1984. It’s the real story behind the 2008 Sean Penn narrative Milk – and with the original witnesses. If you pay attention, The Times of Harvey Milk can teach you everything from how to win a local campaign to how to build a societal movement. One of the best political movies ever. And watch for the dog poop scene!

This week, The Movie Gourmet took the week off from movie theaters. After two weeks of movies about self-euthanasia (The Room Next Door), shameful deathbed confessions (Oh, Canada) , psychotic rage (Hard Truths) and a traumatized genius (The Brutalist), I just couldn’t face one about a woman who loses her husband to political evil (I’m Still Here). I like dark films, but even The Movie Gourmet has his limits. In the mean time, I’m deep into screening films for the upcoming Slamdance and Cinequest film festivals.

Note: I have finalized my list of Best Movies of 2024.

REMEMBRANCE

Tony Roberts had a gift or playing characters with relaxed confidence, perfect foils for Woody Allen’s trademark nervous anxiety. Roberts’ pairing with Allen began with Play, It Again, Sam, and carried through Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy and Hannah and her Sisters. Roberts worked plenty without Allen (Serpico, The Taking of Pelham One Twi Three and Dirty Dancing), mostly on the Broadway stage, where he was nominated for multiple Tony awards.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. In theaters.
• The Brutalist: buffeted by fate, can his soul survive? In theaters.
• Hard Truths: trapped inside her own rage. In theaters.
• The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. In theaters.
• All We Imagine as Light: three women and a society that’s not on their side In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
• Oh, Canada: deathbed confession and so what? In theaters.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

On February 17, Turner Classic Movies is presenting Mon Oncle, Jacques Tati’s masterful fish-out-of-water satire of contemporary consumerism and modernist culture. In its deadpan way, I think it may be the most deeply funny movie of all time. If you have strong feelings (either way) for Mid-century Modern style, be patient and settle in. There’s very little dialogue and lots of sly observational physical humor. Tati’s use of ambient noise/sounds in the very spare soundtrack is pure genius. Mon Oncle is among my fifty or so Greatest Movies of All Time. 

This week on The Movie Gourmet – my Noir City Wrap-up and new reviews of some of the year’s most acclaimed films: Two were created by already iconic filmmakers: Like Leigh’s Hard Truths and Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, The third is The Brutalist, the work of an emerging director, Brady Corbet, whom I guess has done emerged.

Note: I have finalized my list of Best Movies of 2024. BTW, none of them are as good as last year’s top three – Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall or Past Lives.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. In theaters.
• The Brutalist: buffeted by fate, can his soul survive? In theaters.
• Hard Truths: trapped inside her own rage. In theaters.
• The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. In theaters.
• All We Imagine as Light: three women and a society that’s not on their side In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
• Oh, Canada: deathbed confession and so what? In theaters.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

Turner Classic Movies is into its 31 Day of Oscars, showing only Oscar winners and nominees. That means it’s harder for me to recommend overlooked films to you, because fewer Oscar winners are overlooked, although some have been unjustly forgotten. So, this week I have the February 11 TCM airing of The Bad Seed (1956). Very bad things are happening – the chill comes from the revelation that the murderous fiend is a child with blonde pigtails. It’s gotta be tough to be cute and creepy at the same time, but child star Patty McCormack pulled it off. McCormack went on to161 screen credits, including iconic TV shows from Route 66 and Death Valley Days to Murder, She Wrote and The Sopranos. Patty is the queen of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, having worked with everyone from Karl Malden and Angela Lansbury to Ron Howard, Michael Douglas, Philip Seymour Hoffman and of course, Kevin Bacon himself. McCormack was Oscar-nominated for this performance as an 11-year-old.

This Week on The Movie Gourmet – Noir City continues though tomorrow, but I’m back with a new review of the overlooked gem In the Summers, now available to stream. Here’s my Noir City coverage so far:

• NOIR CITY returns – with the spotlight on femmes fatale
• NOIR CITY is here – don’t miss these three femmes fatale

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. In theaters.
• The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. In theaters.
• All We Imagine as Light: three women and a society that’s not on their side In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
• Blitz: one brave, resourceful kid amid the horrors. AppleTV.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: totally unexpected. Netflix.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• You Are Not Me: a nightmare at mom and dad’s. Amazon, Fandango.
• The Settlers: reckoning with the ugly past. MUBI.
• It’s Not Me: his life as an art film. Amazon, Fandango.
• Lake George: when you know you’re not going to win. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.
• The Critic: who’s on top now? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

As we enter February, Turner Classic Movies launches its 31 Day of Oscars, showing only Oscar winners and nominees. That means lots of good movies, but it’s harder for me to recommend overlooked films to you, because fewer Oscar winners are overlooked, although some have been unjustly forgotten. For example tonight kicks off with 8 1/2, Wild Strawberries and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie back-to-back – a veritable survey course in European cinema. (I also DVR very few TCM movies this month, because I’ve already seen the ones I would want to watch.)

Nonetheless, I can recommend TCM’s February 3 broadcast of one of my personal favorite movies, The Paper Chase, which traces a young man’s (Timothy Bottoms) first year at Harvard Law School and is based on the memoir of a recent grad. Although IMDb labels The Paper Chase as 1973 movie, I saw it in the summer of 1975, just as I was about to enter law school myself.   It’s such a personal favorite because just about EVERYTHING in the movie is something that I experienced myself at in my first year at Georgetown Law – everything, that is, EXCEPT dating Lindsay Wagner.  It’s a compelling story and the great producer John Houseman won an acting Oscar for his performance as the mentor/nemesis law professor; Houseman immediately cashed in with his ”They make money the old fashioned way… they EARN it” commercials for Smith Barney.

The Paper Chase is also notable as the first feature film credit for actors Craig Richard Nelson, Graham Beckel (Brokeback Mountain, L.A. Confidential)  and Edward Herrmann (known for many portrayals of FDR).  All three are stellar as members of the law school study group, and these guys have now combined for over 300 screen acting credits.  John Jay Osborn Jr.,  who wrote the autobiographical novel which was the source material movie, died in 2022.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – I’m at the Noir City film festival in Oakland:

• NOIR CITY returns – with the spotlight on femmes fatale
• NOIR CITY is here – don’t miss these three femmes fatale

Nevertheless, The Movie Gourmet has new reviews of Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door and Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl. But, first, remembering a fine actress and a transformative filmmaker.

REMEMBRANCES

It’s hard to think of a filmmaker more influential than David Lynch. His Eraserhead became the firt arthouse cult film, and no one had ever seen anything on TV lik his Twin Peaks. He had a popular and critical success with Elephant Man, but remained defiantly artistic with his masterpieces, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. His last film work was a hoot – an acting cameo as John Ford in The Fabelmans.

Joan Plowright was primarily a star of the English stage, but she worked in movies, too, including Tea with Mussolini and earning an Oscar nod for Enchanted April. My favorite Plowright performance was in a gentle Irish comedy, Widows Peak.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• The Last Showgirl: desperation amid the rhinestones. In theaters.
• The Room Next Door: Tilda and Julianne, life and death. In theaters.
• All We Imagine as Light: three women and a society that’s not on their side In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
• Blitz: one brave, resourceful kid amid the horrors. AppleTV.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: totally unexpected. Netflix.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• You Are Not Me: a nightmare at mom and dad’s. Amazon, Fandango.
• The Settlers: reckoning with the ugly past. MUBI.
• It’s Not Me: his life as an art film. Amazon, Fandango.
• Lake George: when you know you’re not going to win. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.
• The Critic: who’s on top now? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

On January 26, Turner Classic Movies airs the taut 77 minutes of Woman on the Run, one of my Overlooked Noir. When the police coming looking for a terrified murder witness, they are surprised to find his wife (Ann Sheridan) both ignorant of his whereabouts and unconcerned. And the wife has a Mouth On Her, much to the dismay of the detective (Robert Keith), who keeps walking into a torrent of sass. She starts hunting hubbie, along with the cops, a reporter (Dennis O’Keefe) and the killer, and they all careen through a life-or-death manhunt. Another star of Woman on the Run is San Francisco itself, from the hilly neighborhoods to the bustling streets to the dank and foreboding waterfront. Eddie Muller will present the intro and outro in TCM’s Noir Alley.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – another busy week, with new reviews of a highly acclaimed art film from India and a Claymation romp: All We Imagine as Light and Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Plus, my first coverage of next weekend’s Noir City film festival, which I’ll be covering in person: NOIR CITY returns – with the spotlight on femmes fatale.

Next week: Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl and Pedro Almodovar’s much-awaited The Room Next Door, with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• All We Imagine as Light: three women and a society that’s not on their side. In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: another smart and charming romp. Netflix.
• Blitz: one brave, resourceful kid amid the horrors. AppleTV.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: totally unexpected. Netflix.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• You Are Not Me: a nightmare at mom and dad’s. Amazon, Fandango.
• It’s Not Me: his life as an art film. Amazon, Fandango.
• Lake George: when you know you’re not going to win. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.
• The Critic: who’s on top now? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

On January 19, Turner Classic Movies presents the obscure, low-budget Decoy, which stands out out from the rest of film noir (and from much of cinema) for two elements. The first is the most hysterically evil femme fatale ever. The second is that the plot pivots on a preposterous premise – resurrecting an executed criminal to find out where he hid the loot.

Little known British actress Jean Gillie revels in her performance as the femme fatale, who is not only remorselessly murderous, but she’s sadistic as well. And she can even take pleasure in humiliating a man from her deathbed.

Decoy is not a very good film, but it moves so quickly, and its two major elements are so astoundingly outrageous, that it’s fun to watch. Decoy is not currently available to stream, so be sure to DVR it this week on TCM. It’s on my list of Overlooked Film Noir.

This has been a remarkably busy week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of a Bronze Age saga, a Spanish psychological horror movie and a darkly funny crime thriller: The Return, You Are Not Me and Lake George. You can now stream Anora at home – the film currently number one on my Best Movies of 2024, The current number two film, A Complete Unknown, is in theaters.

REMEMBRANCE

You may have read of the recent death of Jeff Baena, who wrote David O. Russell’s I Heart Huckabees, and wrote and directed The Little Hours and Spin Me Round, all offbeat and subversive comedies.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Return: an ancient tale told thru a 21st Century lens. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Blitz: one brave, resourceful kid amid the horrors. AppleTV.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: totally unexpected. Netflix.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• You Are Not Me: a nightmare at mom and dad’s. Amazon, Fandango.
• The Settlers: reckoning with the ugly past. MUBI.
• It’s Not Me: his life as an art film. Amazon, Fandango.
• Lake George: when you know you’re not going to win. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.
• The Critic: who’s on top now? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

The culture is pervaded with Bob Dylan right now, which is probably why Turner Classic Movies is airing a rare Bob Dylan acting performance, not once, but TWICE – on January 12 and 14.

One of my very favorite films is the Sam Peckinpah 1973 Western Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, featuring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson in the title roles. Dylan composed the music for the film, including Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, which perfectly underlines a heartbreaking scene with two greats of the Western genre, Slim Pickins and Katy Jurado. Dylan also holds his own in a small, mostly comedic, acting role.

Peckinpah takes us into a realistically dusty world of 1880s New Mexico and makes the story operatic in its sweep. Pat Garrett is a revisionist Western, with Billy representing the have-nots and his old pal Garrett hiring out to do the bidding of the capitalist one-percenters. It’s a near-great movie; if the unfortunate “Paco” story line were excised, it would rank among the greatest three or four Westerns of all time.

Pat Garrett also features the Peckinpah repertory company of Luke Askew, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Gene Evans, Dub Taylor, Emilio Fernandez and, in one his most memorable roles, R.G. Armstrong. The stellar cast also features Harry Dean Stanton, Jason Robards, Elisha Cook Jr., Chill Wills, Richard Jaeckel, Jack Elam, Barry Sullivan, Jack Dodson (Howard Sprague in The Andy Griffin Show), Richard Bright (Al Neri in The Godfather), and Charles Martin Smith (Terry the Toad in American Graffiti).

Dylan starred in his only other narrative feature film, Hearts of Fire, in 1987. He did appear, uncredited, in Dennis Hopper’s Catchfire (1990). Three decades after Pat Garrett, Dylan won an Oscar for composing the theme for Wonder Boys.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of A Complete Unknown, Queer and Jimmy Carter. Plus my year-end coverage:

1. Best Movies of 2024
2. Best (and worst) movie-going experiences of 2024
3. 2024 Farewells: on the screen
4. 2024 Farewells: behind the camera.

REMEMBRANCE

Olivia Hussey was only 15 when she began filming Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet. Zeffirelli had decided to tell the story of impulsive, over-dramatic teenage love with actual teenage actors, and Hussey rewarded him with a rapturous and genuine performance. She worked with Zeffirelli again in the best-ever biblical epic, Jesus of Nazareth, as Mary, mother of Jesus.

CURRENT MOVIES

• Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters.
• A Complete Unknown: a genius and his time. In theaters.
• Conclave: explosive secrets? in the Vatican?. In theaters.
• Blitz: one brave, resourceful kid amid the horrors. AppleTV.
• A Real Pain: whose pain is it? In theaters.
• The Outrun: facing herself without the bottle. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandngo.
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: totally unexpected. Netflix.
• Queer: forty-five minutes of fine romantic drama, and then the bizarre. In theaters.
• The Settlers: reckoning with the ugly past. MUBI.
• Emilia Pérez: four women yearn amid Mexico’s drug violence. Netflix.
• Chasing Chasing Amy: the origins of love, fictional and otherwise. In theaters.
• Kneecap: sláinte! Amazon, AppleTV.
• Will & Harper: old friends adjust. Netflix.

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024 – So Far:

• The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
• Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
• Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
• Sweetheart Deal: a triumph of cinéma vérité. In arthouse theaters.
• Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
• I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

OK, I’m not saying that Viva Las Vegas (Turner Classic Movies on January 8) is neither a good movie nor an overlooked one, but it’s tough to beat for sheer vibrancy and sexual chemistry. Virtually all Elvis Presley, movies had silly, barely visible plots contrived as an excuse for Elvis to perform a few songs and to canoodle with a pretty female. What’s different about Viva Las Vegas is that his co-star Ann-Margret had the musical talent and charisma to match up with Elvis; her dancing here is captivating. Ann-Margret has confirmed that she and Elvis enjoyed a torrid fling during the shoot, and their lustful passion is evident (meaning that Elvis didn’t need to rely on his acting skills to appear smitten). (BTW the one good Elvis movie was Kid Creole – check it out.)

Director George Sidney (nearing the end of a career making light-hearted musicals) seems so obsessed with Ann-Margret’s derriere, that you can play a drinking game on the extended, lingering shots of her walking away from the camera; don’t blame Sidney – nobody in Kiss Me Kate or Annie, Get Your Gun! was as overtly sexual as Ann-Margret.